The Peeling of the Orange
by degrassichick
Summary: FlashFic entry for Infidi: 'His name was Bobby O'Brian. He peeled an orange for me at this party that we had at our old school in Toronto. He wasn’t cute or anything, but it was the thought that counts, I guess. It was a good orange.' DASEY.


**Hey everyone!**

**This is my Flash Fic entry for Infidi, so if you put her work with my work, you can obviously tell that this story is bound to be…**

**Dasey. Duh.**

**So, I hope she likes it! Here were her requests:**

_**1. A Dasey story which has at least a paragraph each for the following words: Underdog, a carrot, microphones, plywood, body paint, condoms, **__**Texas**__**, and Tarot Cards.  
2. Start the fic with the line 'Casey, who was the first person to peel your orange?' And base the entire fic around it.  
3. A fluff shot about Derek and Casey getting trapped on the catwalk for their theatre and they are cold...and it's dark. **_**(I wasn't **_**quite**_** sure what she meant by this, so I tried the best I can!)**_**  
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE NUMBER 2!!!!!!!**_

**So, I hope I do you justice, Infidi:)**

**-**

**Enjoy!**

**-**

**R&R and please, no flames!**

**-**

**XO,**

**DC :)**

**-**

**-C-**

-

"Casey, who was the first person to peel your orange?" This is the first question I am met with when I walk through the door after school on Friday.

I turn towards Marti, and I raise my eyebrow. "Who was the first person to do what to my _what_?"

She giggles before turning and running out of the room. "Smerek told me to say it!" she cries out over her shoulder before trampling past me and hurrying up the stairs.

Derek, who is sitting on the couch, looks baffled. "I did _not_ ask her to say that."

"_Peel_ _my orange_?" I toss back with confusion. "What kind of a lame pickup line is that?"

Derek narrows his eyes at me. "As if I actually would use it on _you_." He sneers, before chuckling. "I just loved the facial expression that you made afterwards."

I narrow my eyes at him before brushing past the couch and into the kitchen. I snag a carrot from where it is sitting and break off the tip of it, popping the orange vegetable into my mouth and letting the crunching sound of my chewing tune out Derek's play-by-play about the look on my face when Marti asked me the question. I take another bite out of it as I make my way back into the living room just as he is finishing up the story. "Are you done?" I ask, with an eye roll.

"How's it hanging, Bugs?" he asks sarcastically, eyeing the carrot in my hand with confusion.

"I have to get ready for rehearsal." I say nonchalantly and make my way up the stairs.

For some reason as to which I may never be sure of, Derek follows me. "For what?" he asks.

"The _play_?" I state it as more of a question rather than an answer. "I'm meeting Noel there at six."

"You're going to drive out in a blizzard to meet _Noel_?"

I roll my eyes. "Yes." I reply. "Mr. Edwards gave us the key to the auditorium, so we have the whole thing to ourselves for rehearsal."

"_Big treat_." Derek mutters.

I pause as I make my way to the landing on the second floor of our house and turn towards him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"That there are much cooler and a hell-of-a-lot hotter people out there than Noah?" Derek threw back.

I snort, rolling my eyes at him. "First off, it's _Noel._ Not _Noah_, _Noel_. And besides, isn't there some cheerleader you need to be getting drunk right about now?" I toss coolly over my shoulder before stepping into my bedroom and kicking the door shut behind me.

I stare blankly into my room before scoffing. "The first person to peel my _orange_?"

**-D-**

The look on Casey's face was totally worth asking the question. Her eyes widened, her jaw dropped, and her eyebrows knitted together in confusion. It. Was. _Priceless_.

Of course, now she's going to go out with Noel Covington.

To the school auditorium.

Alone.

And that's not the most pleasant thought in the world.

Just because, well, it's _Noel_.

I personally think that anybody that is named off of a Christmas-centric event is well…just, no.

It reminds me of this guy that I met this one time at a summer camp. His name was Santa Clawson, so clearly, his parents were just trying to be funny…or they were on some deeper form of medication than Tylenol PM. Anyways, the dude had a beagle and he named it Underdog. Every Halloween since they got him, they dressed him up in the Underdog costume, the red cape, the blue emblem, you get the picture. And for Christmas, they would dress him up as Underdog and put a Santa hat on him and they'd all pose for pictures with him. It was _sad_. Poor Underdog.

So, the whole thing about Casey hanging out with Noel tonight? Yeah…not necessarily into it.

"Heading out!" I hear Casey call throughout the house, and I hurry out my bedroom door.

"Need a ride?"

**-C-**

Unbelievable.

Derek Venturi just asked me if I would like a _ride_ somewhere.

His friends must be busy tonight or the entire cheerleading squad and dance team must have mono (and if they did, I say all fingers point to Derek). Because in no universe that I have ever known of, has Derek Venturi asked me if I "needed a ride."

"Why would you assume that _I_ need a ride or for that matter would even _accept_ a ride from you?" I think back to my other options.

Oh, right. I have none. I never got a car. George and Mom thought it would be a good experience that would "bring us closer as siblings" (and scoff) if they made us share a car.

Okay, and there's that other small detail about how I freaked out at my driving instructor right before I hit the road for the test and he insta-failed me, but I'd rather leave that part out. Because, Casey McDonald doesn't fail tests. Ever.

"Come on, Casey. What are your other options? Bus? Taxi? Dad and Nora are both out, and they _both_ have their cars with them. It looks like you're royally screwed."

I cross my arms over my chest. "Sorry, Derek, but _somebody_ has to stay behind and watch Marti. Unless, of course, you want to come home and see the house completely burnt to the core because Marti was desperate for popcorn."

"Edwin's here, he'll watch her." Derek says, flicking his hand in the air as if it's no big deal, before he grabs his coat off the hook and practically pushes me out on the front porch.

**-D-**

"Being at school at night. Creepy." I shudder as I pull up into the school parking lot.

Casey rolls her eyes, unfastening her seat belt before the car is even stopped. "Well, you've done you're done your duty. So, you can leave. Now."

I drop my jaw mockingly. "Casey, are you implying that you don't want me here?"

Casey snorts. "That's exactly what I'm implying. If you want to be nice, though, come pick me up at eight. Okay?"

"I missed the part where I became your butler." I throw back at her.

Casey simply grins back at me. Her grin is evil, I don't care what Noel (who's pathetic little crush on her is getting unbearably annoying) thinks about it. I know Casey, and I know its evil. "See you at eight… _Geoffrey_." She throws in the name Geoffrey with a pathetic imitation of a British accent, and the moment she slams the car door shut after her, I peel out of the snow covered parking lot.

-**C**-

"Okay, Noel, where are you?" I murmur to myself from where I am sitting on the stage in our auditorium. My arms are crossed over my chest. The school must not think to keep the heat on over the weekend. What kind of stupid-ass logic is that?

Good God, its freezing! And where the hell is Noel?! It's been 20 minutes!

Suddenly, my phone goes off in my jeans, and I pull it out, flipping it open.

"Hello?" I greet grumpily.

"Casey, its Noel. I got caught up at this benefit for my parents, and it looks like I'm not going to get out of it before ten…rain check?"

I roll my eyes, sighing. "Yeah, sure, I guess."

"I hope you're not already there."

"I am." I throw back. "But don't worry about it. I'll see you Monday." I say before snapping my phone shut and jiggling my foot angrily.

Now what?

**-D-**

"Derek, come pick me up," is the first thing that I hear from Casey when I answer my phone after the fourth ring.

"Pardon?" I toss back sarcastically.

I hear Casey sigh angrily on the other end, and the thought makes me laugh. "I'm serious, Derek. Noel bailed and I'm stuck here and it's _freezing_." I hear a slight clicking sound and a loud groan from Casey followed by, "UGH! Look, there's no service in here, I'm going to lose your call in, like, three seconds. But come get me, I'm inside the auditorium. Seeyouinafewbye!" her last words are thrown together as if it's all one word, but I get the general idea.

She wants me to come pick her up. She thinks I'm her _slave_.

Of course, Dad and Nora will _kill _me if I don't go get her.

Damn conscience.

-

I am back in the school parking lot within a matter of minutes, and I shift into a parking space and climb out of my SUV, securing it with my keys before making my way towards the school entrance.

Why did her phone have to lose service _now_? It's freezing out! I knew there was a reason I hated this place. No cell reception.

I step into the dimly lit school and the temperature is not any better.

Casey has to be the only person here; I've never seen this school look so…_deserted_.

The Twilight Zone theme sounds off through my head.

I make my way to the auditorium entrance and rap on the door. "It's Derek! Can we go now?"

"Come in for a second, I'm just doing something really fast!" I hear Casey's voice call back.

A one man show…interesting.

I open up the door and step in to the auditorium; the door makes a clicking sound behind me, and my body shudders from the lack of warmth in this building.

Couldn't the school get, like, sued for this or something? I should look into that. It's an easy way to make 50,000 bucks.

"Did you know that my car has _seat_ warmers? They warm your, you know, _seat_. And mine is currently freezing off right at this very second."

"Quit being so over-dramatic. I'm the actress here." Casey mutters, I can see her standing on a step ladder, moving around books.

I make my way onto the stage and eye her curiously. "What are you doing?"

"Well, they have these 'Methods to Successful Acting' books, right? And there are six volumes. So, while I was sitting here in the midst of freezing my ass off, I decided to walk around to try and warm my body up. And _then_ I noticed that the three volumes were all mixed up! I mean, there were twos with threes and ones with fives and…it was a mess. So, I'm reorganizing them and putting them in numerical order." She smiles, proud of her accomplishment.

I roll my eyes. "_Wow_." I mutter. "Can we _leave_ now?"

She rolls her eyes back at me before hopping down from the ladder.

But, let's be realistic here, this is _Klutzilla_ we're talking about here. She misses a step on her way off the ladder, and I can see her body tumbling back, her voice letting out a shrill squeal.

The "Clark Kent" within me must have popped out of my body and came to life, because next thing I know, I am lying on the polished wood flooring of the stage, and Casey is lying on top of me, my arms wrapped securely around my waist. I feel a tingle rippling through my veins everywhere that her body is resting on top of mine. Which is basically…_everywhere_. I immediately release my hands from her and she stands up from off of me. "God, you're heavy." I joke, fake-wheezing.

"Shut up, jackass." Casey mutters back, slugging me.

And we're back to our originally scheduled program!

"Okay, let's go." Casey says, brushing off her outfit and grabbing her purse from where it is sitting on the edge of the stage. The two of us make our way down the stairs and up the aisle, to the doors of the auditorium.

Casey presses her hand to the handle and pulls.

Nothing.

She jiggles it a few times.

Nothing.

"Derek, go check the other doors." Casey says quickly, a worried tone to her voice.

I make my way towards the middle section of doors and attempt to pull (and push, because, you know, maybe Casey wasn't smart enough to think of that) the doors open, and nothing happens.

Shit.

The same thing happens with the final set of doors.

"Derek." Casey says nervously.

"Uh huh." I mumble in return, pressing a hand to my head.

"We're locked in."

I sigh. "Thank you, Captain Obvious."

-**C-**

_Unbelievable_.

Un-freakin'-_believable!_

I'm trapped. In our school auditorium. With _Derek_.

Why does God insist on punishing me?

"My foot's asleep." Derek groans from where he is sitting slumped in a chair in the auditorium.

I glare at him from where I am sitting on the stage, my feet hanging over the edge. "I don't really care."

"Not my _foot_ necessarily, just my second toe. Next to the big one. What's that called?"

"Don't _know _Derek." I mutter bitterly.

Derek rolls his eyes glancing down at his watch. "Well, we've been in here for a grand total of one hour and three minutes, and school starts in about…58 hours. So what do you want to do?"

I snort at him in disbelief. He _can't_ be serious. "I want to get out of here. _ASAP_."

He gestures towards the auditorium, shrugging. "Any ideas?"

I roll my eyes. "Whatever." I murmur, crossing my arms over my chest and shivering.

Why did this happen to me?

-**D-**

Why did this happen to me?

Not only have I been trapped in my own personal _prison_ in negative-ten degree weather, but I am also stuck in my own personal prison with my own personal cell mate. Who's not exactly chipper at the moment, for some reason.

Personally, for a guy being trapped in his high school auditorium, I think I'm doing a pretty decent job at staying collected.

_Casey _on the other hand…_yeah_.

I glance at her from where she is sitting on the stage. Her long hair is sloping over one of her eyes like a sheet, and she is staring down at her feet, from where they are hanging off the edge of the stage.

Before I can stop myself, the words fall from my mouth. "Truth or dare?"

Casey stares up at me and her jaw drops, she scoffs. "You're _not _serious."

"Truth or dare, Case." I mumble.

She shakes her head. "I'm not playing that _ridiculous_ game with you, Derek. I have more taste than that." And on that note, she stood up from the stage, brushed off her jeans, and disappeared behind a curtain.

I stand up from the chair I'm sitting in. "Well, that's not fair. Who said you get to decide what game we play? And who the hell plays hide-and-seek?"

Casey pokes her head out of the curtain. "I'm not playing hide-and-seek, you nimrod. I'm looking for a blanket. It's freezing in here."

I roll my eyes, jogging up the stairs of the stage. "And there's going to be a blanket back there somewhere?"

I can practically _see _her rolling her eyes from behind the red curtain. "That's why I'm _looking_, Derek."

_Touchy._

I shrug off the leather jacket on my shoulders and shove my arm through the curtain. "Here."

Casey shoves my arm back out of the curtain. "I am _not_ wearing that."

"Oh, okay." I snort. "Are there any blankets back there?"

Casey mumbles in response.

"Sorry, what's that?" I ask mockingly.

"No." Casey says again, more clearly. A hint of annoyance is easily detected in her voice.

I shove my arm back through the curtain and I feel the jacket be snatched away from my hand.

She pushes back through the curtain and I feel my heart skip a few beats at the sight of her in my leather jacket, my sleeves dropping down past her hands. She glances towards me and sends me a weak, thankful smile. And my heart skips a few more.

_Stop that_.

-**C-**

Okay, so Derek did, like, one nice thing for me. Big deal. That one nice thing he did, of course, has kept me warm for the last four hours.

And in the last four hours since his jacket has been passed to me, we have stared at the wall, walked around the auditorium, flipped through old yearbooks (where we ran into George…wearing a _mullet_), and stared at the wall a few more times.

I am now sitting at the edge of the stage, jiggling my feet.

"You're a big fan of doing that, aren't you?"

"What, dangling?" I turn towards him, eyeing him confusingly.

He nods, shrugging.

I shrug back at him. "Yeah. I guess. Why?"

"Observation." He replies, plopping down beside me. I slide a few inches away from him. He stretches his arms out in front of him. "_So_."

I turn towards him, shaking my head in confusion. "_So_?"

"Truth or dare?"

I scoff, shaking my head. "You don't give up, do you?"

"It's not the Venturi way." Derek says, smirking. "So, truth or dare?"

I shake my head again, sighing. "Truth."

He smirks, and it slowly forms into a grin. Apparently I was _supposed_ to answer truth? "Who was the first person to peel your orange?"

My heart falls and I can tell that my face must be holding a fuming expression, because Derek bursts out laughing. "I walked _right_ into that one." I grumble, before standing up from the stage and making my way down the stairs.

"Yes." Derek says between laughs. "Yes, you did." He follows me down the stairs. "So come on, fess up. Who was it?"

"If I actually had a clear understanding of what that even _meant_, maybe I could answer that for you." I throw back over my shoulder.

"Oh, come on, Case." Derek says, clearly on my tail. "You're a smart girl. Figure it out."

And for some reason, the way Derek says that sends shivers all the way down my spine.

The good kind of shivers.

-**D-**

Have you ever noticed how sexy Casey's body looks when you're walking behind her? I mean, seriously. Because it's like…wow.

Okay, what the hell's wrong with me?

Casey slumps down in a chair and sighs, leaning her arms down on her thighs. "First to peel my orange…" she murmurs, as if trying to break down the words.

"Oh, come _on_." I mumble, sitting down beside her. "How can you not figure this out?"

"I'll think about it." Casey replies, before turning her body sharply around until she is facing me completely. "And while I do…" she gets an evil smirk on her face. Oh, God. I know that smirk. That's _my_ smirk. "Truth or Dare, Venturi?"

I scoff. "Truth." I answer easily, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Why were you so apt on bringing me here tonight?" she asks, as if she had been meaning to ask the question all night long.

I shrug. "I didn't want you dying in a blizzard?" I answer weakly.

She sends me a knowing look, as if knowing that it wasn't the truth.

Which, well, it wasn't. But I wasn't going to let _her_ know that.

"Well, it's true." I argue for myself quickly, before standing up from the chair and making my way down the aisle, reaching my hand into my pocket, and fishing out my cell phone, flipping it open.

Still no service.

I sigh and sit in a chair farther up towards the stage, pulling out my phone. It's still good for _one _thing, at least.

Tetris, my friend. Tetris.

It's now 11:25, and we are clearly both bored out of our fucking minds.

You can only laugh at your dad in a mullet and neon pink and orange shirt looking like a hillbilly version of Anthony Michael Hall for so long before you decide that you can't survive without MySpace for much longer than five hours.

A good thirty minutes pass and I am still well into my game of Tetris, Casey is now sitting on the floor of the auditorium, with her body pressed back against the wall, doing something on her phone, she had murmured something about PacMan, so I'm guessing that's what she's playing.

I glance at the clock on my cell phone, 12:00 AM.

Oh, good, only 54 more hours that we're stuck here.

"Bobby O'Brian." Casey suddenly shoots off from out of nowhere.

I turn my head to face her. Her phone is resting against her legs that are propped up against her chest.

"What?"

"Bobby O'Brian in seventh grade." She repeats. "He peeled an orange for me at this party that we had at our old school in Toronto. He wasn't cute or anything, but it was the thought that counts, I guess. It was a good orange."

I burst out laughing.

She widened her eyes, staring at me. "_What_?"

I make my way towards and sit down beside her. "I didn't mean _literally_, Case. I meant _figuratively_."

Casey snorts. "Well, _figuratively_, what the hell does that mean?"

I pause, to think about it. "Well, I just figured it meant sex."

Casey turns her head towards me, quirking an eyebrow. "You _figured_? _You_ don't even know?"

I snort. "No. Sam made a joke about it today at lunch, so I figured I'd test it out on you. And the face you made was _priceless_."

Casey scoffs, shaking her head at me in disbelief. "I can't believe I actually tried to figure out what that meant for you!"

"Aw." I coo sarcastically, nudging her.

She rolls her eyes, sitting back against the wall and crossing her arms over her chest and letting out a sigh, closing her eyes.

God, she looks good in my jacket. And incredible with her eyes closed.

Okay, Derek, I can only tell you this once more. _STOP IT_.

I knew perfectly well why I didn't want Casey coming here tonight without me without her. But it wasn't a good reason…probably not in her opinion, at least.

Should I tell her anyways?

Apparently, my mind said "go", because that's exactly what I did.

-**C-**

A few minutes after my pathetic "confession", I hear Derek speak up.

"I didn't want you to be here with Noel." I hear him say.

I turn my head, fluttering my eyes open. I know _exactly_ what he's implying, but it doesn't stop me from asking, "What?"

He nods. "That's it. I didn't want you to be with Noel. I didn't want Noel to get the chance to be alone with you, and I knew that if I dropped you off that I would have some legit excuse to stay behind…kind of."

My heart pounds happily in my chest, and I send him a slightly puzzled expression. "That's why?"

Derek sighs, turning his head away from me and mumbling. "I don wha ayee guys awoh wihyou."

I laugh slightly. "What?"

"I don't want any guys alone with you, Case." Derek mutters, turning back to face me, his temple rests against the cool wall of the auditorium. "Okay?"

My heart thumps away giddily and I nod. "Okay."

-**D-**

I am awoken by a very loud, "WHAT THE HELL?"

My body jolts up, and I feel Casey's head fall from where it resting against my shoulder. The two of us are still sitting against the wall, our bodies resting against one another.

My eyes widen when I see Sheldon Schlepper standing in the entrance to the auditorium, a wide eyed expression on his face. "What are you two _doing_ here? I show up early for debate practice and I see…_you_ two!"

"We got locked in last night." Casey answers for me, standing up and yawning. "The genius janitor's didn't check the auditorium before they locked the doors."

Sheldon sends us a confused expression, as if what we're saying can't possibly be true. "Didn't you guys try the back door?"

My heart falls, and I can see Casey stiffen beside me.

"_Back door_?"

-**C-**

Unbelievable.  
There's a BACK DOOR?!

Sheldon leads the two of us up the stairs, behind the curtain, and around a corner backstage, and sure enough, there's a large door with a silver handle.

He pushes it open and we are faced with the bright, London sunshine.

"You're not serious." Derek mutters. "We were stuck here all night, and there was a _door_?! I've been freezing my ass off in here!"

"Well, there you go." Sheldon says, before brushing past us. He nudges Derek's shoulder and winks at him, and Derek rolls his eyes.

"Unbelievable." I sigh. "I can't believe we stayed here overnight for no reason." I turn and grab my purse from where it is sitting against the stairs on the stage, and sling it over my shoulder. "Ready to go?"

Derek shrugs and the two of us make our way into the sunlight.

"Last night wasn't _that_ bad, was it?" Derek asks, as we shuffle across the parking lot, making our way towards his SUV.

I smile to myself, shaking my head. "Not really."

Derek sends a smug smile back at me before unlocking his car and climbing into the driver's seat, I hop in beside him on the passenger's side.

The car turns on as do the heaters.

Oh, the heaters. How I _love_ the heaters.

And the seat warmers. They are possibly the greatest technological discovery…_ever_.

Derek lets the car warm up for a moment, and we sit in a slightly awkward silence.

Before, I speak up, that is.

No matter how much I tell my self not to.

-**D**-

"Derek." Casey says quietly. I turn my head to face her. Of course, she's going to tell me to forget our heart-to-heart from last night, and that just because Sheldon caught us together (and then _winked_ at me, as if I planned the godforsaken event), it doesn't mean anything.

"What?"

She sighs, leaning herself closer towards me. "Truth or Dare."

I send her a confused look. "What?"

She leans in even closer, so that our noses are a mere inch apart. "And you already used your truth."

I can feel my heart pounding against my chest. I have an insanely good idea about where this is going. "Okay, dare."

She smiles the smirk of mine that I know so well. "Kiss me."

And I do just that.

-

-**DC-**

**-**

**TA-DA!!**

**And only one day past the deadline! Lol…**

**Anyways, I hope you liked it, Anna! I know it probably wasn't what you had in mind; I tried to make it match your prompts, and I hope I did it justice! And, of course, I hope you liked it :)**

**-**

**Anyways, R&R and please, no flames!**

**-**

**XO,  
DC :)**


End file.
